{"id":14212,"date":"2017-09-15T17:42:10","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T21:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/?p=14212"},"modified":"2017-10-20T16:41:24","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T20:41:24","slug":"the-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/fr\/2017\/09\/15\/the-local\/","title":{"rendered":"The Local"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Since its December 2016 debut, on an unassuming corner of Montreal\u2019s relaxed yet hip Mile-Ex district, Marconi has accomplished what few local restaurants could. It married the casual, breezy feel of a neighbourhood drop-in culinary spot with food that discerning Montrealers can\u2019t get enough of. The menu \u2014 modest but pleasingly diverse, with French and Mediterranean influences, and presented in a vintage-chic setting \u2014 succeeds in being innovative, yet approachable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marconi is the brainchild of Montreal native Mehdi Brunet-Benkritly and Miami-born Molly Superfine-Rivera, now husband and wife, who met while working at restaurants in New York\u2019s chic West Village. \u201cShe was tending bar at Minetta Tavern, a neighbourhood spot I loved,\u201d says Brunet-Benkritly, who had moved to Manhattan to work the stoves at Fedora.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was when his visa was coming to an end that the moment of truth arrived for Brunet-Benkritly. He had already put in time as head chef at Chez Sardine, which was owned by the restaurant group that owned Fedora, and Superfine-Rivera had moved on to the highly lauded M.Wells in Queens. \u201cWe just started throwing ideas about opening something together. We wanted something very \u00e0 la Minetta Tavern and Fedora, that felt like it has a history and it\u2019s real,\u201d says Superfine-Rivera. They knew, however, that opening a restaurant in New York would cost a fortune. \u201cYou have to sell your soul just a little bit, whether that\u2019s to an investor or a larger group,\u201d says Brunet-Benkritly. \u201cWe wanted to avoid that, because we had such a strong vision of what we wanted and we wanted to control it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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That ultimately meant a move back to Brunet-Benkritly\u2019s hometown, where they spent almost a year searching for the right location for the restaurant. \u201cA lot of the spaces we saw had either been completely renovated \u2014 everything brand-new, no character, no history \u2014 or they had been completely ignored for years and there was just too much to get done,\u201d recalls Superfine-Rivera.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then they hit the jackpot. The owner of a general store that had been abandoned for nearly half a century agreed to bankroll structural upgrades while maintaining the interior\u2019s aesthetics. \u201cEverything was original \u2014 the tiles on the wall, the old icebox in the back corner that, when we opened its doors for the first time, was still chilly. We got so lucky,\u201d notes Superfine-Rivera. \u201cIt\u2019s been sitting untouched for 45 years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Those beautiful patterned wall tiles are now in full view this sunny May afternoon, their worn-away layers of paint revealing white, navy and bronze tones. That handsome icebox, repositioned smack-dab in the middle of the dining room, now serves as Marconi\u2019s walk-in wine cellar and a bona fide conversation piece. As Brunet-Benkritly and Superfine-Rivera chat in a corner banquette, the staff in the open kitchen prepare salmon, fiddlehead ferns and other provisions that Brunet-Benkritly carried in, mere minutes earlier, from a local farmers\u2019 market. Amid the low-key bustle, Ivy, the couple\u2019s dog, is content to pass out on the hardwood floors.<\/span><\/p>\n

In keeping with their preference for places with a sense of history, the eatery\u2019s name honours the past of Mile-Ex, a part of town once known as Marconi-Alexandra. \u201cIt comes from the inventor of the radio,\u201d Superfine-Rivera explains. After his experiments with transatlantic radio-wave transmissions brought him to Newfoundland, Guglielmo Marconi wound up in Montreal. \u201cHe had a factory in Mile-Ex,\u201d she says. \u201cHe brought a lot of employment to the area, so the neighbourhood is named after him. The factory no longer exists, but it wasn\u2019t far from here. And voil\u00e0, Marconi.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Before his stint in New York, Brunet-Benkritly worked at Au Pied du Cochon \u2014 one of Montreal\u2019s many special-occasion restaurants legendary for, as he describes it, \u201call foie gras and butter\u201d menus. For Marconi, he wanted something different. \u201c[The neighbourhood] is popular and already a destination, but that\u2019s not the motivation,\u201d he says. Adds Superfine-Rivera, \u201cWe want people to come in for a snack and a drink, with their whole family and have a full dinner. We just want everyone to be able to do what they want.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, customers are wanting popular plates like dashi-marinated Gaspesian arctic char accented with fish roe and surprising bites of crunchy puffed rice; mushrooms saut\u00e9ed with chicken stock and brown butter, then topped with a poached egg; a toast dish that showcases whelks, bone marrow, aged cheddar and flat parsley atop thick slices of crispy bread; and ricotta gnocchi, cooked with amontillado sherry and tossed with morels, blanketed in shaved pecorino that melts to create the dish\u2019s own splendid sauce. Marconi\u2019s menu expertly balances seasonal fare with reliable standbys. One of their best and most crowd-pleasing items, in fact, is a simple snack-sized portion of cod fritters served with a tangy a\u00efoli.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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It\u2019s important to us that this be a place that people will always want to come back to,\u201d Superfine-Rivera reiterates. Funny enough, that credo doesn\u2019t strictly apply to patrons, considering the couple moved into the upstairs apartment last summer. \u201cWhen we opened, there was a month when we came in here every day,\u201d Superfine-Rivera admits with a laugh. \u201cEven on days the restaurant is closed, we\u2019d wake up and just roll downstairs to make some coffee. [Now] we\u2019ve forced ourselves to create a little separation and have days where we do not come into the restaurant at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good though, because it\u2019s made us venture out and discover other parts of the neighbourhood. We\u2019re already thinking about where our next neighbourhood spot might be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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By Rose Maura Lorre – *This article originally appeared in INSIGHT: The Art of Living | Fall 2017<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

View Real Estate listings in Montr\u00e9al<\/a>| Photos: Jake Kivanc, Claudine Sauv\u00e9, Rick O’Brien<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since its December 2016 debut, on an unassuming corner of Montreal\u2019s relaxed yet hip Mile-Ex district, Marconi has accomplished what few local restaurants could. 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